Hunter’s father got out his pencil and paper and began work. The problem was that there was a very small budget to work with, so careful planning was needed in order to stay within budget. After the project was completed, they had a little less than $600 invested.

They started with “blacking out” the stage area, painting the back wall and the ceiling tiles. The walls were no problem, but they had to be careful with the ceiling tiles. Hunter’s dad felt that it was best to paint them with a sprayer so that the paint would not soak up and cause the tiles to break or sag under the weight of the paint.

After paint, they built their five light boxes using 1×4 lumber for the frames. After building the frames, they stapled fabric to the back of the frames to keep light from escaping the boxes. Then they mounted the boxes to the back wall, leaving the fronts still open. After the boxes were mounted, they installed LED strip lights to the inside perimeter of each box. The LED strip lights have adhesive backing, but they also secured a few tacks to the lights to just make sure they didn’t come loose. After hanging the strip lights, they proceeded to install translucent white polystyrene panels to the front of the boxes using staples and then put corner molding around the outside edges to clean up the design. Lastly, they used black duct tape to make the striped patterns.

Safety Warning

Please look into the safety of these stage designs for yourself. Fire and rigging safety is very important, and different states/countries have different fire codes. Refer to this safety article and always ensure you use fire-retardant materials or treatments.